Friday, October 30, 2015

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The mandatory quota system for distributing asylum seekers among EU member states was decided without respect for public opinion and this could cause a "democracy crisis" in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

The right-wing conservative Orban has sealed off Hungary's southern borders and cited a threat to European culture and Christian values from an influx of hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim migrants into the European Union this year.

As Germany prepares to take in most of a million or so migrants by the end this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel's push for a permanent relocation mechanism setting binding national quotas has met fierce resistance, notably from smaller, less affluent eastern states like Hungary in the 28-nation EU.

"Who authorized Europe's leaders, or some of its leaders, to conduct this kind of policy? This is a democratic continent," Orban told Hungarian public radio in an interview.

"When and who voted for admitting millions of people who entered illegally, and distributing them among EU member states? What's happening lacks democratic foundations."

Orban said the proposed quota system was unreasonable, unlawful and unfair. Hungary also refused to receive any migrants expelled from western Europe since those migrants - who come mainly from war- and poverty-stricken parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa - had first entered the EU via Greece.

"And now ... there is an even bigger threat that the quotas could become a permanent legal measure, with those arriving automatically distributed, and we do not accept that."

Orban, one of the most outspoken opponents of immigration in Europe, said that imposing quotas challenged the very foundations of Europe built on nation states.

When it built fences along its borders with Serbia and Croatia, drawing sharp criticism from western EU countries, Hungary argued it was meeting its obligations to protect the outer frontier of the EU's Schengen zone of passport-free travel. Orban said the EU should stick to its rules as otherwise Europe could slide into "anarchy".

The fence has cut the number of migrants entering Hungary to a trickle, shifting the flow to Croatia and Slovenia as tens of thousands continue to trek towards preferred destinations in wealthy western Europe despite descending winter cold.

The unrelenting influx has become Europe's biggest migration crisis since World War Two.

"When the EU veers off the path of legality then it could sink into anarchy very quickly ... and now we are falling off the cliff," Orban said.

Officials in Berlin say Germany isn’t to blame for the hardships facing asylum-seekers face at the country’s border with Austria.

Hundreds of people have been kept waiting outside in frigid conditions for hours at a time in recent days as German officials tried to process new arrivals one by one.

German government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said Friday authorities were working hard to improve conditions but “in the border region where people arrive, there aren’t an unlimited number of field beds.”

Wirtz dismissed the suggestion that refugees are rushing in, fearing that Europe will make it harder for them to enter soon. She told reporters that Chancellor Angela Merkel “hasn’t said we’re closing the borders to Germany, or anything like that.

Thousands of migrants have piled up on the Slovenian side of the border with Austria waiting in cold weather to cross.

The backlog of some 4,000 people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa was formed in the refugee camp in Sentilj as Austrian authorities struggled to process and register as many as they arrive from the Slovenian side.

Hundreds of asylum seekers on Thursday pushed their way over metal barriers at the Sentilj camp after waiting for hours to cross.

Both Slovenia and Austria have discussed possibility of building fences on their borders to control the massive influx of migrants and refugees.

Nearly 105,000 people have entered Slovenia in less than two weeks since Hungary sealed its border with Croatia.

Refugees from Syria and Iraq are blaming young men from Afghanistan and other countries for increasing tensions at the overcrowded border crossing between Slovenia and Austria.

Hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi men formed a human chain Friday to separate their women, children and the elderly from the mostly single men whom they accuse of pushing the crowds over metal barriers set up by border police.

Ashref Nouriki, an asylum-seekers from Iraq, says "they don't care for the families, they don't care for the kids ... they are just pushing and pushing." He adds the protection line that some refugees created was "all Iraqi and Syrian, hand in hand."

Thousands of asylum-seekers have been crammed into a small space at the Sentilj-Spielfeld crossing, with some pushing forward, jumping over the barriers and trampling others.

Norway says it expects up to 33,000 people will seek refuge in the country next year.

Officials say more than 13,000 asylum seekers have so far traveled to the Scandinavian country, and estimate their numbers could reach up to 25,000 this year.

Finance Minister Siv Jensen said Friday Norway "must have a strict but just asylum policy," adding it was "necessary to review rules and procedures that can reduce costs per asylum-seeker and the flow of new applicants."

France's government says it has shifted nearly 700 migrants this week from the flashpoint slum outside the northern port city of Calais to shelters elsewhere in the country.

About 6,000 migrants are camped out in slum-like conditions in Calais, hoping to take a chance at crossing the Channel Tunnel for a better life in Britain. France's government is eager to show that it has a handle on the situation as winter approaches.

According to the Interior Ministry, 402 migrants were transferred Friday and 293 were moved Tuesday. The statement said a medical team was heading to Calais, and the government was finishing a plan for a cleanup, latrines, and drinking water.

Tensions have risen between Britain and France, which are linked via Calais with both ferry and train service.

Hungary's foreign minister, saying the refugee crisis is the biggest challenge the European Union has ever faced, is accusing critics of his country's closed-borders policy of "hypocrisy."

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also argues that people making their way through the western Balkans are economic migrants rather than refugees, because when they reach the safe nation of Greece they don't stay but head north in search of "a better way of life."

Szijjarto said Friday there's "a piece of hypocrisy" in criticism of his country's fencing off its southern borders to keep migrants out, as it is forced to abide by European regulations on border controls.

He spoke after talks in Athens with Greek foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. Hungary has criticized Greece for letting in hundreds of thousands of people across the sea from Turkey.